Government accountability

Friday, October 16, 2009

I actually cared about local government when I lived in Steamboat. I completed a Masters Degree in City Planning at MIT and, when I was younger, published about municipal bond ratings, local government relationships with investors, and local economies. My husband's father, Ray Sieverding, was on the chamber of commerce and a community leader there in the 1960's and until Bennett ran us out of Steamboat, we had planned to stay. My husband is currently working on a book about economic development.What I cannot understand is how Kevin Bennett can even be considered as a candidate for local government when he has three buildings on his property at 701 Princeton Ave that aren't listed on the property tax rolls. Pin 222800001 shows that there are only 2,343 square feet of building area at Bennett's 701 Princeton Ave property. In fact the total building area is more than twice that. The 2,343 represents only the house that Kevin Bennett bought in the early 80's. Anyone can stand on Princeton and Pahwintah and see that there are 4 buildings there and 2 of them are two stories. There was extensive controversy in 2000 when Bennett built the two story building which according to the electric permit is 2,009 square feet and parks two vehicles and has heating and plumbing. There is also a building permit for a guest house with a full bathroom and a kitchen. There is also at least one other building with a full foundation possibly more. The square feet was never increased so Bennett's property taxes are low. This also allowed the city to coverup its part of its extortion of myself. Why do you think that Princeton Ave doesn't have a public place to turn around? I tried to get the city to built and maintain at least a little turning area, which is required by the code, but Bennett stopped it because he just wanted to use my former drive as a public turnaround so he could use city land for private parking.With Googlemaps street view anyone can see that there are buildings that aren't on the property tax rolls for 701 Princeton Ave. Also, the court transcript shows that former City planning services director Wendy Schulenburg Rooney claimed to be a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners but they emailed to me that they don't have a record of her being a member. An AICP membership is actually a pretty big deal involving education, references, testing and a commitment to their ethics program.